


To Walk Beside You

by HorseLoverTW



Category: Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: F/M, Post Warbreaker, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 20:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HorseLoverTW/pseuds/HorseLoverTW
Summary: Vivenna and Vasher, taking their warbreaking show on the road. This takes place after the novel, Warbreaker, but does not incorporate any of the content of the Stormlight Archive.





	To Walk Beside You

To Walk Beside You

Disclaimer: Warbreaker and all characters belong to Brandon Sanderson. I don’t own any of this. 

A/N: Seriously, I should have been reading this stuff years ago. If you haven’t read Warbreaker yet, it’s online in its entirety on his website. You should check it out. 

Chapter 1: On the Road

“So what will you do once you find this Yesteel? He sounds even more formidable than Denth.” Vivenna urged her grey mare into a trot to ride abreast of Vasher, or Kalad, or Tax, or whatever his name was. Honestly, she wasn’t exactly sure which version of the man beside her she saw him as. 

He glanced her way before looking steadfastly ahead at the road once more, his taciturn face hidden by its usual stubble and the ragged hood he kept low over his thick black hair. Finally, his stallion snorted and the man sighed. “I will stop him. It will probably involve me being captured at some point.”

“Humor? You? Now I’m really scared,” she deadpanned and then flashed a grin, hoping to soften the jest. Vasher, for that was the version of him she’d known the longest, tended to be unreadable and it seemed her purpose recently to try to draw him out. Not to mention it was a beautiful morning and her biochroma kept reaching out and feeling the breath of the forest around them with a joy she found hard to contain. The road to Kuth and Huth wound through the vibrant forests that bordered Hallendren and then traveled onward, through the violet mountains of Idris and into the lush valleys beyond. 

“No you’re not, Princess. You’re turning into quite the adventure seeker. Does that not bother you?”

“Not extremely. It’s far more interesting than studying for decades on how to please a man I thought would torture me and likely slaughter my people.”

“Fair point.” 

“You still haven’t really answered me.”

“I didn’t realize I was required to, your highness.” 

His utter indifference chaffed but she knew that the man beside her cared deeply. Not about her. But he did care. His quest to avert the rebellion and save both Hallendren and Idris proved this. “You were all friends once, weren’t you? The Five Scholars.”

She thought he would ignore her again but quietly, he said, “They were family. Brothers and a sister and then me, tagging along.”

“But you were also family, by marriage to Denth’s sister, right?” She knew she was pushing her luck, but the road was long and she had been dreadfully curious. Vasher was so enigmatic about his past and then the episode with the God-King, when he’d transformed into a Returned God himself, had only frustrated Vivenna. This man beside her was ridiculously vague and mysterious as if on purpose. It was natural that anyone in her shoes would be interested; at least that’s what she kept telling herself. 

“I was always the outsider. Yesteel and Shashara were the brilliant inventors, Denth and Arsteel the talented swordsmen.”

“I think with the Phantoms, that handsome sword by your side, and what with your being able to gain the advantage over nearly all of them but the one we now seek, one could argue that you were the most talented of the Scholars. Perhaps not in inventions or dueling, but in your wits and vision.”

See, she called me handsome, Nightblood said. I knew she had good taste. You should be nicer to her. You haven’t been nice to anyone in a while.

Ignoring his sword as he normally did, Vasher finally deemed to actually look at her and she wished he hadn’t. His black eyes blazed with hatred. A rainbow of colors shimmered across his cloak like waves on the beach before settling. “I murdered them. Using tricks.” He leaned over his saddle towards her and she reflexively pushed her mare away, her fear causing the mare to toss her head. In that moment, he looked every bit the scraggy, deranged mongrel of a murderer she’d first thought him to be, rather than the golden and ethereal God-King maker and renowned scholar she knew he was. But how could he be both? 

Then again, how could she be both the prim princess and the Awakener, the street urchin and the hero? She steadied herself and then urged her mount ahead of his stallion, forcing him to stop and held his gaze as she said, “You did what was right. Even when it cost you everything. I don’t think you’re a murderer. In fact, if I weren’t such a devout follower of Austre, I would be inclined to see you as a God. And a benevolent one at that.”

His anger slid away and his eyes widened. Quickly, he schooled his features. “I don’t wish to talk about my dead companions, nor be reminded that it was at my hand that they died. Instead, if you insist on talking -which you know I’m neither fond of, nor do I have any skill at- then answer me this- Why are you flattering me?”

Vivenna opened her mouth to answer and then realized she didn’t have a good one. She considered for a moment, moving over so they could continue down the road. They walked beside each other for several long moments, the only sound the squeaking of their leather saddles and the soft snorts of their mounts. Finally, she answered, “I suppose I just want to get to know you better.”

“Why?” he asked, and she was genuinely taken aback by how earnest he sounded. 

“Because you seem a man worth knowing.”


End file.
